PM Modi spreading 'false propaganda': Congress

New Delhi: Hitting back at Narendra Modi for his jibes at 'garibi hatao' campaign of Congress, former Finance Minister P Chidambaram today accused the Prime Minister of "failing" to acknowledge the "24 crore no frill bank accounts" opened under the UPA government, while the AICC charged him with spreading "false propaganda".

"At Varanasi, PM again failed to acknowledge the 24 crore no frill bank accounts opened under UPA. That was precursor to Jan Dhan," the senior Congress leader posted on micro-blogging website Twitter.

Party General Secretary Shakeel Ahmed too made a scathing attack on Modi, asking him to come out of "selective amnesia".

"All that the PM and his government have done was to rename and carry forward the 'Swabhiman' scheme launched by the UPA as Jana Dhana scheme," he said during AICC briefing.

Taking a dig at the PM, he said that instead of giving account of his "failures" for visiting Varanasi after nine months, he chose to resort to "false propaganda".

"Modi has simply become an expert at renaming schemes from our era and launching them... like the magical conversion of Swabhiman into Jan Dhan," he said.

"Rather than hoodwinking the people of India, he must answer as to why is the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan failing... why farmers in Marathwada are dying... why are doctorates and post graduates applying for a peon's job. What happened to the much hyped 'Per Drop, Per Crop' and two crore jobs a year rhetoric of the Prime Minister?" Ahmed asked.

The Congress counter-attack came after the Prime Minister took a swipe at the 'garibi hatao' campaign of Congress during his visit to Varanasi today. He alleged that those who could not bring any real change in the lives of the poor or even open bank accounts for them during their five-decade rule were now questioning his government.